Luna's Secret
by Someone aka Me
Summary: Part One: Luna has a secret. Harry wants to know why she's letting the ocean wash over her head. Part Two: Luna never anticipated how outliving all of the humans on Earth would affect her. HP/LL Complete.
1. Part 1

Luna's Secret

Summary: Luna has a secret. Harry wants to know why she's letting the ocean wash over her head. HP/LL

--

Harry didn't understand _why_ he went to the ocean. What drove him there? He didn't know. It was an impulse, a feeling. He had learned at an early age to follow his instincts, this was no different.

He got in his car (He had gotten his driver's license at Hermione's insistence and now found it a most enjoyable way to travel) and let his hands take control. They led him to a rocky part of the coastline. He parked far enough away that his car engine wouldn't be heard and walked through a small stretch of forest. He broke through and spotted a lone figure, her hair whipped around her slight figure by the fierce wind.

She was unmistakable to him, even from this distance. He had been fascinated by her for years. She was the epitome of what he wished he had the courage to be. She should have been in Gryffindor. She had the courage to be who she truly was, who she wanted to be, no matter what anyone else thought of her.

She stared out at the endless blue, her arms wrapped around her frail figure, shielding against the cold.

Abruptly, she turned and began to walk along the edge of the cliff. Harry followed, staying close to the edge of the forest, able to duck in if she turned. She didn't. She continue to walk. And walk. And walk. The cliff began to shrink. It became closer and closer to the water until it dropped away, replaced by a long stretch of beach.

She showed no signs of stopping. Harry's feet felt like they were going to drop off. He hadn't walked this far in a long time.

Just as abruptly as she had turned to start, she turned once more to face the ocean. She didn't stop, however. She kept walking, straight into the tumultuous waves. The wind roared, tossing the waves around her. He kept waiting for her to stop. She didn't. Her head dipped under the waves. He lunged, finally realizing that she wasn't planning on stopping. He waded as quickly as he could, weighed down by his heavy denim jeans. He opted for regular clothing over robes majority of the time. It still felt more natural.

He thrashed through the salty water, finally reaching her. He took a large breath and got a mouthful of salt for his troubles. He managed to fill his lungs and ducked under, hooking his arms under her armpits and heaving. She did not struggle. She was exuding her innate calmness, even while drowning. Harry was opposite.

He was panicking. He dragged her up on the beach and pulled out- reached for his wand. He found himself scrabbling for empty air.

He swore silently. He pushed and pushed his mind to remember the CPR classes he had signed himself up for when he was nine. Aunt Petunia had only agreed after forcing him to promise to save her 'precious Diddykins' if he was choking. An adult with only one 'rescuer' meant 15 compressions per 2 breaths. He shut the panic away. This was not the time.

'_Open the airway, two initial breaths,' _he told himself. He shut all his emotions behind the Occlumency shield that he had finally perfected, if a little late, and began professionally trying to save his close friend, who had gotten closer and closer to him as the years went by, especially recently.

She choked up so much water Harry wondered how it all fit in her slim form before she came around. She looked about her, puzzled, as though this was not where she had expected to wake up.

"Harry?" she asked hoarsely. He gave her a drink from his water bottle, propping her head so she could drink. "Why?" she continued, "Why did you save me?"

"Why did I need to?" he countered. "What on Earth were you doing?"

She looked at him. He stared back. After a long period, she finally looked down at her hands, which rested in her lap.

"I do not belong here. I was sent here because I had a part to play in the war. I stayed as long as I did because my father needed me. He died last week. No one needs me here any longer. It is time for me to go."

"You don't belong here? You were sent here? What are you talking about Luna?"

"My name is Leila McPhee. I am a fairy. I was born in the world of fae and sent here because the fae have extreme sensitivity to the possible outcomes of the future. They determined that the war would cause the least destruction if a fae child was sent to influence the results. I am not human. I do not belong."

"Who says?"

"What?"

"Who says you don't belong? You do. You have convinced yourself that you do not belong here."

"I do not," she said firmly. "And as no one needs me any longer, I was trying to leave, before you halted my progress."

"That's not true."

"You do not believe me."

"I do, honestly I do. I think that you are misguided however, in your though that no one needs you any longer. I need you," he admitted.

"You do not."

"I do, though, Luna. I... I have troubles with, er, sanity. I... You keep me sane. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You do not need me," she was insistent while remaining emotionless in tone.

If telling her wouldn't work, he decided, he would have to show her.

He kissed her.

He kissed her with all that he had, soft and sweet, yet demanding and insistent. It was at the same time gentle and passionate. It left both of them breathless.

She opened the eyes she hadn't even known she had closed. She looked him in the eyes, glowing emerald green in a way they never had before, and found she couldn't look away.

"I need you," he whispered. Her only response was to initiate a kiss herself.

AN: Please review and please please please vote in the poll in my profile! Neither one takes that long!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Boy-Who-Will-Not-Die or Luna or Ginny or any other HP characters I mentioned


	2. Part 2

Luna's Secret: Part Two

Summary: Luna never anticipated how outliving all of the humans on Earth would affect her.

Credit: I forgot to give credit last time, the inspiration for that piece came from the song Toes by Norah Jones

AN: I swear I wrote in the first one that Ginny left Harry for a guitarist after like eight months of dating but I can't find it anymore at all so here it is!

--

She had aged herself through life, both to keep up appearances and so he wouldn't feel bad, but she allowed herself to look her fae age once more at his funeral. She was too tired to keep it up and what did it matter anymore anyway?

She had wandered up to the casket during visitation amidst stares. She was a willowy young woman, no one recognized her. She had not gotten close to anyone since Ginny. Ginny wasn't here. She had been run over by her rocker husband's bus, nearly forty years earlier. Luna had mourned, but she had found herself laughing in private. It was such a _Ginny _way to die.

Her father's death hadn't affected her so badly either as it had mingled with a sense of release, finality. She had thought, at the time, that that was the end of her time on with the humans and she could go back to fairyland. But then he came along. She didn't pretend to understand their connection, they were so different. Yet it had happened. Now she suffered.

It was seeing him in the casket during visitation that had made it real to her.

_She wound her way through the crowds; so many wanted to see 'The Great Harry Potter' one last time. It offended her, but she didn't speak up._

_Micah, their half-fae half-human son had planned it. He had decided that the public deserved one last chance to see their hero. Luna didn't care what the public deserved. Harry wouldn't have wanted to be gawked at like a freak. How he hated that very word! Freak. He had tormented himself with that word during his darkest times, struggled with it even during the light of day. She couldn't help reminding him that if he was a freak, what did that make her? It would make the corners of his mouth quirk, but the small smile would rarely reach his eyes._

_She reached out for his hand, pulling it back abruptly at the feel of ice. She gasped, biting back a sob. She had always known that he was mortal, that he would eventually die. Knowing hadn't prepared her. Micah placed an arm around her shoulders and guided her away from the casket. He helped her to a seat and she broke down. She began to sob, true, heartfelt tears coursing down her cheeks. People gaped. Who was this strange woman who sobbed as though she had known the man well yet no one had ever seen before?_

The day of the funeral, Luna's son Micah had brought her a Daily Prophet. Luna herself had never ordered the paper, preferring the Quibbler, even after it was taken over by a different man after her father's death.

"I think you should see this, ma," he told her.

_Voldemort Slayer's dubious pastimes_

_By: Carina Skeeter_

_Harry Potter, slayer of Voldemort, died this past week. But it's more than just that that has people talking. A strange woman, judged to be aged about twenty, was seen at Mr. Potter's visitation for the full period, mourning him as one would expect of a lover. Yet Mr. Potter's wife, Luna Potter nee Lovegood, was not seen at all. So who is this mysterious woman? A mistress, perhaps? A replacement for Mrs. Potter? Will she show her face at the funeral? The public wants to know._

Luna glanced at the paper and then at her son. "So?"

"I think you should wear the glamour to dad's funeral, ma."

"I will not disguise who and what I am any longer. I will not leave you to live a lie in fear."

"You are far braver than me."

"Your father always said that I should have been in Gryffindor."

Micah looked down at the floor, then he looked back at his mother. "Ma? When you leave for fairyland, could I come with?"

"I- Micah, why would you want to?"

"Why do you want to?"

"I am needed here no longer."

"And I am?" he countered. This time it was she who looked down.

"I suppose you could come, if you wish."

"Do you not want me to?"

"I only think that you would be happier if you remained. The fae are not so nice to hybrids." It was a bit of a joke between them, Micah being a hybrid. He had never minded his fae blood.

They left the conversation at that and apparated to the gravesite for the funeral. It was a beautiful day and they had decided to have the whole funeral graveside. The first three rows were strictly reserved for certain people, the fourth row was purposely left empty. Micah had done that for his ma, he knew she would appreciate it. As he guided her up the aisle and into the speaker's seat, the audience that was already seated stared. The pair waited as the seats filled in around them. Luna spoke to no one. Micah chatted lightly with Adria, George Weasley's daughter.

The entire Weasley clan that was still living was also in the first three rows, yet few had tears glistening in their eyes. Molly, who had outlived her entire generation, was one of those few. Hermione Weasley and her daughter Adria both had tears prickling, as did George.

Ron didn't. He couldn't. He couldn't cry anymore. After Fred's funeral, he had broken, become a shell. He couldn't feel anything anymore.

Luna gazed around her, observing yet not participating. She thoroughly ignored the rows and rows of people behind the empty row. Micah was too much like his father sometimes.

She looked at the piles and piles of flowers around the casket, and she finally began to mourn in full. At the visitation the truth had come crashing down on her all at once, now she had had time to process it.

She sobbed for the one man who had finally captured her heart. She sobbed for the man who had been so fully _good_ that Dumbledore, one of the Wizarding World's greatest heros, didn't even begin to compare. She sobbed for the man who had respected her, the first to treat her as an equal and not as something less because she was odd or just because she was a girl. She sobbed for a man so kind, so true, that it was just cruel for the world to take him away, even at age 124. She sobbed for the man who had turned away from the path destiny led him down when he got to the point where he could be done and chose to be a healer instead of an Auror.

The music started, and Luna continued to sob. She cried her heart out through half the funeral until she was dry and felt like a wrung out rag. Then she began to listen, pulling her self together a bit and waiting for her cue. She saw it and elegantly rose from her seat and took the mike from the man who had just sung. The audience stared raptly; no one wanted to miss this.

"Many of you know me," she started. "You just don't think you do. My name is Luna Potter. But, what you don't know, is that this is the real me. I am a fairy and the past ninety years I have aged myself so Harry doesn't feel bad. I truly believe that now that he is dead, he wouldn't want me to hide anymore. I don't remove it out of any disrespect to him, for I loved him more than life itself. He was the one who stole away my heart, and somewhere in the process, I like to believe that I took his too.

"Harry was the most beautiful person inside that I have ever had the honor of meeting. Yet, impossibly, he was not proud of who he was. He was ashamed. He thought of himself as weak, when he was not. He saw the best in everyone around him, and the worst in himself. But he was not blinded by seeing the best in everyone. He saw the bad; he just saw the good shining brighter.

"I will miss him, more than I ever thought possible to miss a mortal. I did not expect to get attached in my time here, I expected to be afraid. I had been told that humanity was one of the most brutal races of all. Yet, along with being brutal, you also have the largest capacity to love that I have ever seen. Harry had that in full. He loved fully, with all that he had, especially when he knew it would not be thrown back in his face."

Luna had thought that she was dry of all tears, yet she felt one sliding down her cheek.

"I still do not understand why he chose to love me. I never once deserved it. But he did, and I am so glad. I am so glad to have seen that side of humanity before I left. I am lucky to have received the chance to come here. I will miss it, for my time here with Harry has been the best years of my life. I loved him, and he will forever be in my thoughts. After all, those who love us never truly leave us. There's a poem that I would like to share with you, it's called Remember by Christina Rossetti. This touched me because I think that it's how Harry would believe.

"Remember me when I am gone away,

"Gone far away into the silent land;

"When you can no more hold me by the hand,

"Nor I half turn to go, yet turning stay.

"Remember me when no more day by day

"You tell me of our future that you plann'd:

"Only remember me; you understand

"It will be late to counsel then or pray.

"Yet if you should forget me for a while

"And afterwards remember, do not grieve:

"For if the darkness and corruption leave

"A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,

"Better by far you should forget and smile

"Than that you should remember and be sad.

"He would not want us to mourn and forget to live, though neither should we forget him entirely. Thank you for allowing me to speak." Tears had begun to stream down her cheeks during the last two lines and as she sat down they ran unchecked once more.

When she sat, Molly whispered to her, "That was beautiful, sweetheart."

"Thank you." She managed to smile slightly had the kind woman who had tears streaks on her face. Somehow, in the 97 years they had been married, Luna had never noticed that other people loved him too. There were other people here who were hurt, possibly nearly as much or even as much as she was. It was a bit of a reality check for her.

The rest of the funeral passed in a blur for Luna. Suddenly, his casket was being lowered into the ground and she stepped forward to throw the first handful of dirt on top of it. The world seemed to slow as she watched the dirt fall. It hit the decorated lid of the casket and scattered. Luna's sharpened eyesight watched every granule of soil as it bounced slightly, lost its momentum, and settled. A glittering tear followed it, landing on the lid. She traced its path down the lid and into the earth. She continued to stare at the lid as Micah's handful clattered onto the lid. His arm wound around her shoulder and he guided her gently away from the hole in the ground.

"It is time for me to go, Micah. Will you be accompanying me?"

He thought for a bit; he never had been one for hasty decisions.

"The fae are not kind to hybrids, you said?"

"No. We as a species are not."

He glanced at Adria, waiting for her turn to throw a handful of soil. "I think I will stay." She smiled broadly at him.

"You are the best of both worlds, Micah. Never forget that."

With that, she was gone.

AN: I'm curious, did anyone notice Luna's speech quirk?


End file.
